obiwanknabbe

I am saddened to share the passing of a dear friend. Kazuhiro Hayashi left us on June 16th, peacefully in his sleep. He was the founder of the NY nihonto owners club, my mentor, and a dear friend. I dont know how many of you knew him, but for those of us who did, we can count ourselves fortunate. Please keep him his his wife your thoughts today.

I have the original tsuka for my Motoyasu wakizashi with some good quality fittings. The issue is the samegawa is shot. Nodules mostly missing as seen in the pics and splitting on the other side. What is the concensus on having it re wrapped?

Over the years I have seen many such items for sale on ebay and other sites. Cut off Nakago, from wartime destroyed swords; sometimes with Mei, sometimes not. Part one of the question, do these really have any historical significance in the collector community or are they merely trinkets/curiosities? Mei examples for comparison seems plausible but not likely reliable as the rest of the sword is missing making conclusive kantei murky at best. Part 2, especially concerning unsigned examples, what is the concensus about further cutting these up and reusing the antique steel to forge new traditionally made blades? I'm of the understanding that the steel used in older swords (like from the koto period and earlier) is not replicatable today due to trace elements that were only pesent in the ore at that time. Have at it! Kurt

Here are a few of the tsuba I've acquired over the years. There are a few interesting pieces but a cursory examination of the collection reveals that I may need more.

As I go further and further down the smithing rabbit hole, I find myself searching for illusive answers to some technical forging questions. Something I've seen a few times in kantei are descriptions of "controlled nei and noi" from various smiths. I'm wondering how this control was executed. Are there any good books or papers that dive into the deep technical "how" of ancient forging techniques?

Sorry about that. My phone auto rotated the pic. Fixed.

Can anyone help with this mei? It was a gift from a friend. I think it starts "Bi shu ju" but I'm not particularly knowledgeable about tsuba. Any info about the maker would be appreciated as well.

I have been watching some videos lately about modern sword smiths in Japan and the struggles they face. What does everyone think about having a raffle and the $ goes towards commissioning a new sword from one of the smiths?

Still available. Reasonable offers accepted.

Hey bazza. No pics to speak of. It's a hypothetical question. Just something I was thinking over while staring at the ceiling.

I was curious, if one has a sword polished, let's say for arguments sake that its just a finishing job to bring out details as the base of the original polish is still good and no pitting is present or major reshaping is required, but the habaki is tarnished and unattractive, or has rub marks or scratches from the old saya and use, yet it is still physically sound, is there a concensus on what should be done with it? Is there a tradition of restoration for habaki as well?

I was talking to my wife about this earlier and thought it would be a interesting topic. How did sword makers advertise their work? Did they have signs or ads in the moderns sense? Price lists? Were features or higher end fittings priced like we see today as add-ons? Or was it all just word of mouth?

I'm just leary of ebay. Been burned too many times in the past.

I was wondering if anyone knew of a reputable source for antique Japanese coins? Ryu, oban, koban ect. I have a few ichibu nishukin and nishugin but would like to add some of the larger coins to my collection. Clark Smith has a few but the inventory does not update often.advance. These are the few I have now. Thanks in advace.